Running Errands
by Kanketsu-Hen
Summary: "This is my last moment of weakness", I think. I replace the images of our last fight with the next items on my list. I can't think of him. I have errands to run.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I do not own InuYasha or any of its characters, they belong to Rumiko Takahashi. I own only the tears I shed for them.

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**Running Errands  
**by Kanketsu-Hen

I wake up to the shrill sound of the alarm clock, snapping out of a dream I can't quite remember, and I don't think I want to. Sunbeams are pressing against my eyelids, making my face warm, and my willpower forces them open. I hit the top button on the alarm clock and it goes silent, a light buzz still in my ears.

With a groan, I look around my room and back to the wide-opened window, tilt my head a little and wonder if I had forgotten it that way, or if someone else had just opened it.

_"InuYasha?"_ The first name comes to mind, my heart racing in anticipation. This name always finds its way up there, sneaking through every thought, in every movie I watch, during my classes and in every other guy I end up rejecting simply for not being _him_.

The half-demon with a short fuse who runs after Kikyou every time he has a chance, making me wonder where I truly stand in his life; but who also has opened up to me and revealed parts of himself that no one else knows, and who tries to comfort me, in his own way, whenever I'm upset.

Something inside of me withers. It couldn't have been InuYasha. The fight we had yesterday will certainly give us a few days apart from each other. It has followed the pattern: he ran to her and came back, searched for me and hell eventually broke loose in the middle of his attempt to apologize, if that's what he was going to do. I ignored his explanation and jumped into the magic well, not even saying goodbye to my friends.

Ignoring him was childish, I acknowledge that, such as using the command that makes him hit the ground, but those were the only resources I could use. The other ones would be to face him and eventually start crying, and I don't want to cry anymore. Not in front of him. Not because of her.

Being angry is better than being heart-broken. Yelling is better than crying. Running away is better than showing vulnerability. Silence is better than dialogue.

When did I become this girl?

It was shocking enough when I caught myself wishing Kikyou's death, and now this. I know I'm not perfect. I'm reminded of that constantly. I don't like everybody and I can be stubborn sometimes, but I've never wished anybody's death before.

_"Don't be so hard on yourself. You're only human, Kagome,"_ Mama would say. But what kind of miko am I if I keep allowing my heart to darken during situations like this? Shouldn't I always be controlled, wise and in peace with myself and the others? It's such a heavy burden sometimes I think I'm not strong enough to bare it. And being constantly informed that I'm not like Kikyou makes it even worse.

I feel like sometimes I have to apologize for being me and not her.

Memories of last night flash through my mind and I feel exhausted. I'm not willing to go through that kind of fight again. I'm wasting my energies, which have become quite precious to me, due to all my obligations in this world and the other. I don't intend to give InuYasha an ultimatum, because I'm afraid he would leave me for good, and it wouldn't be fair or wise from me, but I can't put up with this anymore.

I try to shake him off my mind and ignore the hollow feeling inside my chest. I have a lot to do and I must focus on that. I'll forget about InuYasha, and hope I come up with a solution to our problems tomorrow.

The wind blows my curtain, its shadow dancing along the floor as the mixed scent of flowers invades my bedroom. A small smile touches my lips. Mama wanted to have a flower garden, so she hired Houjou-kun and his friends to prepare the soil and do everything else necessary to setting up a proper garden. _How_ they knew how to do it remains a mystery to me.

The area delimited in front of our house isn't exactly large, so Mama will have to restrict her gardening to flowers only, and she doesn't need more than that, but it receives a lot of sunlight and it was just enough for all the seeds she had chosen to grow. I couldn't help but smile while she was telling me about this, amazed at how she managed to convince four teenagers to work on a garden, after school, under the sun.

Of course the paying was fair, after all, it was still my mom. She would offer them snacks in the end, and they would chat for at least an hour, always counting on my grandpa's stories, whose veracity I'm now forced to admit, and Souta's videogames, which never seemed appealing to me, but most boys tend to like them. I guess Houjou-kun and his friends provided Souta with a type of company I'm not able to, specially now. It sounded like they had a lot of fun.

"We mostly talked about you, obviously. And Houjou-san would bring some new medicine for your made-up diseases, along with surprising knowledge on each subject," she told me, as the first buds were starting to rise.

Because of me, more lies eventually had to be told. I'm not lying in bed, unable to receive any visits anymore. Now I have a cousin who is a young but experienced doctor and who has demanded that I spent sometime with him and his family so I can receive proper care, and come home completely recovered. Houjou-kun seemed satisfied with the explanation.

"He looked genuinely worried. I think he likes you, Kagome," she continued, and I didn't know how to respond, since I'm sure she knows there's something between InuYasha and me. What it is, exactly, I don't know. Maybe she does.

Lately I've been thinking I shouldn't completely shut the door on Houjou-kun, maybe keep it half-opened, in case things don't work out with InuYasha – which right now seems like a pretty accurate prevision. But maybe he has given up on me, with every right, considering how many times I've ditched him and failed to appear on our dates. Also, planning something like this isn't like me. I'm not this kind of person. Wonder if I would suffer less if I were.

My heart aches the most when I think this is probably what InuYasha is doing to me: Keeping me close, in case he doesn't end up with Kikyou. I know he is not a bad person, in fact, he is one of the best I've even known, but being abandoned makes you have doubts. Maybe he has doubts, too.

Deciding I can't afford to waste anymore time, I get up, trying to push both boys's memories away, luckily finding a strong ally in my detailed and memorized to-do list. I mentally go through every item, in chronological order.

The first one really cheers me up: _1. Fill up the bathtub and soak in there until I almost melt._

Knowing there's no one else at home, I slip off my pyjamas and walk to the bathroom, speeding up my pace as a slight embarrassment blushes my cheeks. I mentally scold myself. I'm not in Sengoku Jidai anymore, there's no way Miroku or InuYasha will try to take a peek, so there's no reason to worry.

I rush to get there anyway.

The bath is delicious. I hold my breath and let myself sink into the water. I allow a muffled gasp to skip my lips as water enters my mouth and blends with the tears that, apparently, weren't done with me last night. _This is my last moment of weakness_, I think_._ I replace the images of our last fight with the next items on my list. I can't think of him. I have errands to run.

2. _Tidy up my bedroom._ Easy enough. Mama cleaned it up a couple of days ago, before she went off on a trip with Souta and grandpa to visit some relatives in a city nearby. So, I only need to make the bed and pick up the sheets of paper spread by the wind. I pout as I remember I never actually closed the window.

Number 3 is to _have breakfast while copying Yuka's notes from last week_. We had to arrange some sort of deal so she could lend them to me, and I don't know what she will have me do yet, and I can't worry about it right now.

Mama didn't know I was coming back sooner, so there's a chance she didn't go grocery shopping before the trip. I may have to do it, or just eat somewhere else. I think of a few locations, most involving fast-food, and release the guilt when I notice I've lost a considerable amount of weight in my trips to the past.

Before I reach number 4, my lungs beg for air and I rise, advised by my stomach that I should move faster and go get food. I obey, and within a few more minutes I'm already heading back to the bedroom, a second towel wrapped around my head, keeping my hair from dropping water all over the corridor.

When I get there, I'm not attacked by a gust of wind as I expected. A sudden fear creeps along my spine as I notice the window is now shut. My family is out of town and none of my friends has the keys to my house, so it has to be someone else.

The first thing in mind is that there is an enemy here, someone or _something_ that'll hurt me. I'm so stressed from all that's been going on, I don't even think why would they bother messing up with my window in the first place. Maybe another youkai escaped the well and is looking for the Shikon no Kakera in my possession.

No one is here and I have to defend myself, causing the least amount of damage possible to my belongings. I look for my bow and set of arrows, and mutter in frustration when I can't find them. I didn't bring them with me, they must be at Kaede-obaa-chan's.

Holding the towel tight to my body, I shiver as I feel a presence behind me. From the shadow on the floor, it looks human. _A burglar? A rapist?_ I'm so used to dealing with youkai I actually forgot that crimes were timeless, and the present is certainly not free from them. I'm also used to always having someone around to protect me.

When InuYasha was fighting, Miroku-sama, Sango-chan and Kirara, and even little Shippou-chan would be there for me, and I would be there for them. Thinking of my friends brings me pain now, because my constant fighting with InuYasha eventually drives us apart too, when I run back to the present and leave them there.

The feeling of loneliness and fear stabs my heart, my mind racing. I turn around and my body goes tense, then relaxed, and tense again as fear is replaced by anger, and what I didn't expect to be my first word of the day comes out of my mouth:

"Osuwari!"

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**A/N: **Okay, what do you guys think? I was planning on writing one-shot fanfics only for a while, but I thought I'd explore this in two chapters or three. Let's see how it goes.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **I do not own InuYasha or any of its characters, they belong to Rumiko Takahashi. I own only the tears I shed for them.

* * *

**Running Errands  
**by Kanketsu-Hen

**Chapter 2**

It felt good, I have to admit.

The image of the hanyou now fallen at my feet washed away some of the angst I was feeling, and I'm not afraid anymore. A hysterical laugh I should probably suppress starts growing inside of me, partially because this spell is truly comic (I mentally thank Kaede-obaa-chan for that) and partially because I'm relieved it wasn't some bandit or evil youkai trying to kill me or steal something from me.

It was InuYasha. He came for me.

"You _bitch_," he sounds furious. I should choose my words wisely, for the sake of all the items on my list, begging for accomplishment. I watch his gaze, starting from my toes and moving all the way up to my face. He is lying still on the floor. There's a light twitch in his right hand and I wonder if it's out of rage or pain.

I shrink. It feels uncomfortable to be analyzed like that, especially when you're wearing nothing but a thin cotton towel, which I strongly hope is covering everything it's supposed to.

His amber eyes are still locked in my face, now expressionless. I cried myself to sleep last night, and a little more during my bath, so my eyes must be swollen and my face all flushed. _Great._

"Gomen ne, InuYasha," it hurts a little to say it, but I suppose it takes a few sacrifices to achieve peace, or to get your day started. He mumbles something I can't make out, maybe a swear word or two, and finally stands, facing me sternly. "I thought you were a burglar or-"

"What the hell were you thinking, Kagome?!" InuYasha raises his voice, resting his fists on his waist and leaning forward, reminding me of the times Mama reprehended me for crossing the street without her holding my hand. He's going to scold me for leaving Sengoku Jidai, and we're going to fight again. "How can you go take a shower and leave the window open?"

Oh, so that's what he's talking about.

"But _you_ opened it first to get in and didn't close it, while I was still asleep," it was very careless of him. I could have gotten sick due to the cold wind during the night. I try to sound more offended than I actually am.

"No," InuYasha says, in a high pitch and singing voice. Is he imitating me? "I got in through the door. Your mother gave me the key," he waves the key ring at my face and then he crosses his arms, giving me a challenging look. He had won this round. "So, that means _you_ are the sloppy one." It's almost cute how much he is enjoying this small victory.

He drops his eyes to my mouth, chin and then my collarbone, quickly bringing them back up to meet my eyes again. I try not to focus on that for now.

"Why would Mama give you-"

"And you even _slept_ with your window open? You could have caught a cold, wench! And, next time, someone may actually break in and try to hurt you, and then what?" He drops the mocking tone, and, though he's almost yelling, his eyes look pained.

I take a deep breath. He is worried about me. I'm supposed to remain calm and reassure him I'll be more careful from now on, so we can skip to the part in which we pretend nothing happened, finding peace again.

"Then you will lose your shard detector," but _actual_ peace isn't really achieved that way, is it? Some things must be said, and there's still a piece of my mind I want to give him. "Luckily, you already have another one, don't you? She will be a far better companion than I am. She won't run away, or leave the window open."

My voice came out small, strangled, fading at the end. So much for not showing vulnerability.

My answer caught him off guard, I can tell. InuYasha drops his hands and tilts his head, giving me a puzzled and, if I'm not mistaken, offended look. He steps closer and, now, there are only a few inches separating us. I can feel his breath coming out uneven, and other things I wasn't supposed to be feeling right now.

"Is this how you think I see you?" He says in a low, husky voice. He takes one of my hands, brushing its back with his thumb and sending shivers all over my body.

I remember I'm still wearing a towel and blush even more. Panic wants to settle in but I can't allow it. I must control myself or I'll never get my day started. _Plus,_ I think. _We've seen each other naked before, so this towel isn't hiding anything he couldn't simply remember, right?_

Woah, terrible thought. Panic rising.

"I'm still wearing a towel and there are nine items left," I speak too fast, in that high pitch voice he was probably trying to imitate. He frowns, confused.

"What?" His caress ceases, and I try not to show my disappointment.

"InuYasha, I'm wearing a _towel_," his eyes widen a bit, as if he had only noticed it now.

"Oh," the redness on his face increases, and I can't deny I'm enjoying it. Before, I thought he was blushing from anger only, but now I'm not so sure. He clears his throat and leaves my room, stopping right after he reaches the corridor. "I made breakfast. You need to eat, so . . . I'll be waiting downstairs."

I'm glad he turns around before my jaw drops. I close the curtains and the door, just in case, and spend too much time choosing an outfit for someone who will be home all day. I put on a baby blue underwear, a skirt the same color, and an oxford blue, long sleeve top.

Still working on the idea of InuYasha cooking for me, I walk down the stairs and smell miso soup. Mama must have taught him how to use the stove, since, apparently, they are full of secrets now. I walk in the kitchen and InuYasha is staring at a box of cereals with a pirate on it.

"This doesn't make any sense," he mumbles, and turns to me, taking his time on both pieces of garment visible. Maybe he figured that was okay as long as I'm not wearing a towel.

He hands me chopsticks and a bowl, and sits on the other side of the table. I decide I will love the miso soup regardless of its actual taste. He watches me pour it into my bowl and take the first sip. I keep my eyes down but I know he will keep staring until I give my opinion, and he needs to eat too.

"It tastes delicious, InuYasha," indeed, it did. I sound more surprised than I should, but I could swear I just saw a weight being lifted from his shoulders. He doesn't say anything, and starts eating too.

I remember the times I cooked for him and the kind of reaction he had, and my heart tightens. We finish eating in silence, and he watches me do the dishes.

"What were those items you were rambling about?" He gets up and leans against the sink, arms crossed. "Do you need help finding them or something?"

"No, I . . . I didn't lose anything. I meant items from my To-Do list. I have a bunch of things to do here, InuYasha. I can't go back to Sengoku Jidai right now." I wipe my hands on a piece of cloth and leave it on the sink. He follows me out of the kitchen. "I have school work to do, books to read, notes to copy, and-"

"I didn't come here to take you back."

I stop before reaching the stairs and give him a suspicious look. "Then why are you here?"

He opens his mouth, but whatever he was going to say dies there. He scowls at the door and starts sniffing. Short after, the doorbell rings.

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**A/N:** Sorry for the shorter chapter. I hope you guys are enjoying this fanfic. Thank you for reading, and reviews are always welcome (and very much needed)!


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